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Rangers sign LHP Matt Harrison to Five-Year Contract Extension

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Press Release |

Arlington, Texas – The Texas Rangers formally announced today that the club has signed left-handed pitcher Matt Harrison to a five-year contract extension through 2017 with a club option that can vest for 2018.

Harrison, 27, was a first-time All-Star in 2012, when he went 18-11 with a 3.29 ERA (78 ER/213.1 IP) in 32 games/starts, establishing career highs in wins, innings, starts, complete games (4) and strikeouts (133). He was selected by the DFW chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America as the 2012 Rangers Pitcher of the Year. He led the Texas staff in innings and ERA, and ranked among American League leaders in wins (3rd), innings (7th), ERA (7th), and winning percentage (9th, .621). His 18 wins matched the club record for a left-handed pitcher, also done by Kenny Rogers in 2004.

Last year, Harrison became just the second pitcher in Rangers history with 18 wins and a sub-3.30 ERA in a season, joining Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins, who did it in both 1974 and 1978.

Harrison has a career record of 48-30 with a 4.08 ERA in 126 games/94 starts, all with the Rangers. He ranks among the club’s all-time leaders in winning percentage (2nd, .615) and wins (T12th, 48).

He is one of five A.L. pitchers with at least 32 wins since the start of 2011, joining Justin Verlander (41), Jered Weaver (38), C.C. Sabathia (34), and David Price (32). That quartet has a total of six different top four finishes in A.L. Cy Young Award voting the past two years. Harrison is also just the fifth pitcher in Rangers history with back-to-back 14-win seasons while posting WHIP figures of 1.280-or-less, joining Fergie Jenkins (1974-75), Gaylord Perry (1976-77), Charlie Hough (1982-83, 1986-87), and C.J. Wilson (2010-11).

Harrison has gone 23-14 (.622) with a 4.37 ERA over 65 games/47 starts in his career at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. He ranks seventh in the facility’s history (1994-2012) in wins, while his ERA ranks third at the park among pitchers with at least 30 starts.

With the signing of Harrison for 2013, the Rangers now have two players that are still eligible for arbitration: right-handed pitcher Neftali Feliz and outfielder David Murphy.